Ph.D. Eva Cifrián Bemposta

Dra. Eva Cifrian: Received her B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering in 2005. Since then, she worked as a PhD student at GER research group, in the topic "Environmental Information Management and Decision Support Tools". She obtained her PhD in 2013, and nowadays, she is a Researcher and Teaching Assistant in the Chemistry and Process & Resource Engineering Department. She completed a post-doctoral three-month stay in the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 2015.

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The ninth International Conference on the Environmental and Technical Implications of Construction with Alternative Materials “WASCON 2015”, June, 10th-12th, Santander, Spain

Contribution:

Oral Presentantion

Proceedings:

Libro de comunicaciones. ISBN 978‐84‐606‐8422‐0

Abstract:

This paper presents an approach for the assessment of the environmental impact from soil/land applications of stabilised metallic waste. The approach is based on a combination of the European standard for characterization of waste, ENV 12920, and the Dutch Building Materials Decree (BMD). ENV 12920 stablishes the specific methodology to perform a complete characterisation of the leaching behaviour of waste materials under specified conditions. The BMD regulates the (re)use of primary and secondary materials to ensure the environmentally secure utilization of building materials avoiding further deterioration of the soil quality. No difference is made between primary materials, secondary materials and waste materials. The decree is applicable in case these materials are used in constructions where they are in contact with rain, surface water and ground water (e.g. in embankments, road building, outside walls of buildings, foundations and roofs).

Waste information is necessary for proper management planning. However, data on waste generation and management are sometimes not reliable enough, do not exist or are not useful. In the Spanish region of Cantabria, all waste streams generated are covered through four specific Waste Plans which are the framework to the decision-making processes related to waste management. These Plans were developed from a series of baseline data on waste streams. But it has been necessary to establish a system of environmental information which allows obtaining reliable information for monitoring.

The aim of this paper deals with the background, concept and design of environmental indicators. The use of individual and grouped indicators and index as well as the application of DPSIR models to the environmental analysis is highlighted.

In this work the methodology developed by European Environmental Agency has been used as a starting point in developing a set of Specific Indicators on the primary sector waste. Eleven indicators have been developed to evaluate the generation and management of forest, agricultural, livestock and food industry waste. These indicators allow not only monitoring the primary sector waste management, but also they highlight the precarious situation in relation to knowledge of actions undertaken in the sector in relation to their waste and with the information flows. Therefore, in this paper the analysis of difficulties for management the available information has been carried out.

International Conference and Exhibition WASTES: Solutions, Treatments and Opportunities.

Proceedings:

Book of Abstract. ISBN 978-989-97429-0-1

Abstract:

Human activity is increasing the concentration in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases. This is expected to result in a significant warming of the earth’s surface and other associated changes in climate within the next few decades. The greenhouse gases (GHG) that are making the largest contribution to global warming are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). All three are produced during the management and disposal of wastes. Local climate action has been identified as a vital contributor to global mitigation of greenhouse gases emission. Carbon footprint (CF) being a quantitative expression of GHG emissions from an activity helps in emission management and evaluation of mitigation measures. The concept of CF has permeated and is being commercialized in all the areas of life and economy, but there is little coherence in definitions and calculation of CF among the studies. In this work the CF tool has been applied to measure the environmental impact of the municipal solid waste management in the region of Cantabria, Northern Spain. All steps of the waste management have been taken in account: collection, transport, processing and final treatment, for the period 2005–2009. The results showed a continuous decrease of the Carbon Footprint of the waste management throughout the years.

In recent years, environmental indicators have become a vital component of environmental impact assessments and “state of the environmental” reporting. This has increased the influence of environmental indicators on environmental management and policy making at all scales of decision making. The environmental indicators are grouped in set of indicators, giving a vision global of environmental state. In this work the DPSIR (Driving forces-Pressure-States-Impact-Responses) framework developed by European Environmental Agency (EEA) has been used as a starting point in developing a set of Specific Indicators. In the development of this set of indicators, each one is directly related to policy objectives and targets identified in the Cantabria Waste Plan 2006-2010. Therefore, the synthesis, development, application of and interpretation of results of a set of specific indicators have carried out for evaluating of waste management policy in the regional area.

The increasing care about the environment has influenced the more and more frequent need to take environmental criteria into account in the decision making with others historically further developed like the economic, technological or social criteria. This combination of factors complicates the quantitative analysis of alternatives that the decision maker has to confronting. Furthermore there are many environmental factors difficult to make a comparison and to quantify. In order to be able to study the influence of all these factors, the Multicriteria Analysis Methods are used. The Multicriteria Analysis (MCA) is a mathematical tool which evaluates different alternatives using a sequence of criteria previously decided. This tool is used in a wide range of decision problems, including the environmental management. The advantages of using this kind of tools are: a) the decision is structured into manageable sub components; b) directly involves the stakeholders and the negotiation among the actors implicated is easier; c) a great diversity of problems can be included and; d) it can act as a process of nonstop learning. The main objective of this work is to intensify in the knowledge of the tool through its application to a case study: Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) in north Spain. The following tasks have been carried out: i) a bibliographic review of the MCA methods used for the decision making in all kind of issues (see figure 1); ii) selection of the methods MCA more utilized on environmental issues; iii) influence of the different selected MCA methods and the number of alternatives and criteria used in each MCA method on study case (MSWM).

In this work a review of current waste management models based on multicriteria decision analysis is outlined and the most important conclusions of this review are given. In addition four of the most used Multicriteria techniques (AHP, ELECTRE, PROMETHEE and Regime Methods) are analysed in detail. On the other hand, at the present time, many models recognise that for a waste management model to be sustainable, it must consider environmental, economic and social aspects. In this sense, the model used must consider the three aspects together in the application of the model. Among these characteristics, flexibility is its main property; Multicriteria Analysis can be used to find the best Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management techniques following sustainability criteria. A review of the MSW generation and treatment statistics in Cantabria region, in North Spain, has been carried out. The statistic analysis will show the problematic situation in the region, and the values will be used in the application of the Multicriteria Decision Analysis. From the results obtained of using the ELECTRE Multicriteria techniques, it has been chosen the best combination of MSW management techniques following sustainability criteria. The main target of this last objective is not only to find the best MSW management techniques for Cantabria region, also to show the utility of the Multicriteria Analysis as a tool in environmental decision problems.

There are a lot of systems of environmental indicators proposed by several organisms, and whose approach and objectives differ at sometimes substantially. A widely study of systems of indicators proposed by the different organisms about the waste area has been carried out by the Focal Point on Waste of Cantabria, and a set of indicators to evaluate the situation of waste in Cantabria has helped. The waste information management is executed through three systems of indicators, which correspond to different levels of concretion. The Basic Indicators that allowing a comparative evaluation of the results obtained in different contexts; to give answers to more concrete policy questions and to identify priority actions, more detailed indicators are needed, the Specific Indicators that evaluating the objectives of the Cantabria Waste Programme 2005-2010, and finally the Transverse Indicators, which establish a relationship between the waste area with the other aspects of the sustainability.